Product Review: Viking Cycle Ironside Jacket

The white is actually the reflective piping on the jacket.

I want to thank the good folks (especially David Jackson) at Viking Cycle (www.motorcyclehouse.com) for giving me the chance to review one of their products: The Ironside Motorcycle Jacket. It is a mesh/textile jacket and can be had for the incredible price of $69.95. Compared to most other jackets, that is at least half the price. For the most part, their product line is geared towards the cruiser style/market but their textile jackets have a bit of racing look so this one caught my eye as something to investigate. A few things to keep in mind as I review: I ride a middleweight sport bike (Kawasaki Ninja 650R). I'm about 5'8" and weight about 165 pounds. I prefer looser fitting gear (for movement) and tend to sweat a lot so staying cool is huge for me.



First Impressions:
This is a sharp looking jacket that would be considered sporty for a cruiser rider but a bit subdued by sport bike standards. I think for any type of rider, this look would work. It is a mesh jacket so air flow is going to be very good on it. There is no need for vents on the jacket. One interesting thing is that the liner is quilted so my feeling is that it will be a very versatile jacket being able to be used in hot down to cool temperatures. One thing I liked was that this was a lightweight jacket but didn't feel either flimsy or unsafe. Living in a humid climate, summer riding can take its toll on you physically so anything that makes riding time more comfortable is appreciated. Finally, the biggest feature is the price. I can't state this too often: the price point for this jacket is almost unheard of.
I had two friends check the jacket out and they concurred with the above comments. We all agreed this is a nice looking basic featured jacket.

Fit:
Without the quilted liner, it was very comfortable. Roomy in the right places and had a lot of venting for warm to hot days. With the liner in, the shoulders and sleeves were a bit tight. This is to be expected with the quilted liner so it was more of a minor annoyance. The cuffs of the jacket are very tight and required some getting used to in terms of getting in and out of the jacket. This is because of the insulated cuffs that are sewn into the jacket. Also, it doens't have a zippered cuff which I tend to prefer. On the plus side, most of the gathers are velcro and a few are snaps. I personally like the velcro as they are more adjustable and they are easier to use with gloves on. A huge plus is the felt like material on the collar which makes it very comfortable. I also like that it is a lightweight jacket which will be very nice in the hot months.

The stiched in cuff. Nice for comfort and keeping wind out but made it really tight getting my arms in and out of the sleeves.

Quality:
This is a surprisingly well made jacket with quality throughout the product. The stitching looks solid. The main enclosure is a YKK zipper. The CE armor is removable. Nothing looked shoddy in the product.

Protection:
My standard for a jacket is if it will help you survive one crahs, and of course without actually crashing is a best guess. It has removable CE armour, Denier along the impact areas, reflective piping and the stitching looks and feels solid. Given my parameters this looks like it passes my protection standard.

Features:
This is a very basic jacket. I would compare it favorably to another mesh jacket I owned: the First Gear Mesh Tex II. There are the usual set of pockets, good venting with the mesh exterior, and a zip out liner. What stands out is the liner is quilted which allows this jacket to be used in a larger temperature range. I rode it in 50 degree weather and did OK in it. I would say it is useful from cool to hot weather. Perhaps its best feature is the price. This is a great deal for someone on a budget. Value is quite high considering the quality that you are getting out of  this jacket.

Looks:
I would describe this as a subdued but still a somewhat stylish. This is based on me riding a sport bike. I could picture just about any rider wearing this jacket and feeling good about how it looks. Obviously, this is a subjective rating so look at the picture and decide.

On the bike:

Final thoughts:
This is a basic featured, quality jacket that is fantastic for the price.The styling is nice and it is useful in a wide range of temperatures and will likely save your skin in a crash. I would give it a thumbs up!

The Price

"...a friend till the end
That's the kind of girl she was
Taken away so young
Taken away without a warning"
Think Of Laura - Christopher Cross


Two weeks ago it happened again. Someone close to me passed away. With it comes the almost all too familiar Kubler-Ross five stages of mourning. It also has a even more painful and tragic spin as this was a friend who took her own life. A huge host of additional questions rise when this happens. It's a more sudden type of shock and there's no way to prepare or quickly come down from all of the emotion you feel. To make things worse, she was a co-worker and so each day going to work for the rest of the week triggered the feeling of reliving all of the emotion of that day. It was pretty horrible and I had to take moments through the day just to process the emotion of it all.

For the first time in my life I was to give a eulogy. Some of my words are folded in below along with thoughts now that I have some distance from the situation.

Her name was Sarah Robertson. She came from the roughest of backgrounds. She survived abuses too numerous to remember. She had both a rough and soft exterior. On the rough side, she wore too much makeup, had tattoos and piercings. On the soft side, she had an infectious laugh, a great sense of humor and was kind and generous. With those with her background it's easy to write her off as a wasted life. On the contrary, she was trying her best to make something of herself. She had become a marketing coordinator at our company, she was a loving mother and was very intelligent.

I described her in my eulogy with three words:

First was a peacock. Colorful, impacting and daring. She had the personality that you couldn't easily forget.

Second was Dharma from the TV show Dharma And Greg. Free spirited, artistic, generous, intelligent, loving/loveable, kind, cheerful, sensitive, persevering and compassionate. I once called her that and she really liked the comparison.

"I will fly away to them, to the royal birds; and they will beat me, because I, that am so ugly, dare to come near them. But it is all the same. Better be killed by them than to be pursued by ducks, and beaten by fowls, and pushed about by the girl who takes care of the poultry yard, and to suffer hunger in winter!" And it flew out into the water, and swam towards the beautiful swans: these looked at it, and came sailing down upon it with outspread wings. "Kill me!" said the poor creature, and bent its head down upon the water, expecting nothing but death. But what was this that it saw in the clear water? It beheld its own image; and, lo! it was no longer clumsy dark-gray bird, ugly and hateful to look at, but a - swan!
It matters nothing if one is born in a duck-yard, if one has only lain in a swan`s egg.
It felt quite glad at all the need and misfortune it had suffered, now it realized its happiness in all the splendor that surrounded it. And the great swans swam round it, and stroked it with their beaks."
The Ugly Duckling

Third was a swan. Grace, purity, beauty, elegance and mostly transformation. She once said she wished she was the swan in the story of The Ugly Duckling. I think it fit her life quite well. She grew up an outcast, abused and despised. But when she takes a deep look at herself, she had transformed into a swan. The important part was that all along the Ugly Duckling was always a swan. My deepest prayer is that God will now reveal to Sarah that she was a swan all along.

As with any suicide, there's so many questions. There's truly no answer to all of those questions. Also, there's the feeling of deep hurt and anger. I know it's selfish to think but when someone takes their own life it hurts those around them. My biggest hurt is wondering why she didn't reach out to those who truly had her best interests at heart. It's something that I will have to live with and be OK without an answer.

In search for an incomplete answer, I found it helpful writing her a letter. I also talked things through with close friends. It took me a while to just come to the conclusion that the weight of the life she had lived had been too much and she was likely battling depression. She was under a great deal of stress and the people around her and from her past were a great burden on her. In many ways, she had lived a full life.

Hebrews 10:19-25
 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

My biggest take from all of this: drop your guard. Be transparent and find friends that you can really confide in. Lay all of your burdens before a Loving Heavenly Father where you can find the deep healing you need. Depression is a terrible condition and one you cannot deal with alone. The price of staying isolated from friends and God is far greater than the cost of transparency. The losses will continue and the price can be high. May we all find the healing that our Father so richly wants to offer us.

Reelin' In The Years

First, a happy 50th birthday to Shawn Hillegas. In 1992 on our birthday, I saw him pitch in Yankee Stadium. He didn't fare well in that outing but it is a unique memory to have the guy who shares your birthday pitch in the House That Ruth Built.

"Are you reelin' in the years
Stowin' away the time
Are you gatherin' up the tears
Have you had enough of mine"
Reelin' In The Years - Steely Dan


This week marks a big milestone in my life as I turn fifty on August 21st. One half a century, the big Five-O. I can light my birthday cake on fire pretty easily now. Yes, a colonoscopy is on the horizon. It's also a time of introspection. What did my time on earth mean? Some thoughts: It means I remember the Beatles when they were still together and I watched Willie Mays play ball in Candlestick Park. I'm a Baby Boomer and a GenXer - which probably explains a lot of my confusion of who I am. I grew up during the Wonder Years when they weren't just a nostalgia show. That show more than anything else, described my childhood. It means I lived through hippies, disco, New Wave, Grunge and Hip Hop. It somehow allows me to have some sort of perspective on the world and hopefully some wisdom. For some reason, people look to me for that. I hope I don't steer them the wrong way.

"Your everlasting summer
You can see it fading fast
So you grab a piece of something
That you think is gonna last
You wouldn't know a diamond
If you held it in your hand
The things you think are precious
I can't understand"
Reelin' In The Years - Steely Dan

I don't think this is a "been there done that" mindset, but I also notice things that I thought was really important, has become less so over the years. I used to spend tons of time playing, watching and reading about sports. I spent tons of money on movies and music. Now I see them being much less a part of my life. Things are part of life, but they're not the most valuable. How I spend my money and time has changed focus. Time especially, is getting shorter for me, I hope that this changing perspective is helping me get my priorities straight.

"Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."
It's A Wonderful Life

Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:43-47

What do I treasure most now? The people close to me. I think mostly of my children and how much they have shaped me, challenged me and somehow loved me through all of it. I think of my friends in the same way. Over the years I have had friends come into my life that have become lifelong adopted family who have supported me through some of the darkest and brightest times of my life. I think of the fellowship and care during college that came as close to the Acts 2 model that I have ever experienced. It seems during that time I was fully alive and each day was pure joy to live. It was an amazing gift from God and acted out in the most generous way with friends who are still to this day close to me. God has also graciously added friends along the way. I can't say enough about several co-workers who have become close friends of mine as well. It makes the long days at work not only bearable but joy at times. I am truly blessed.

"There's a fire burning in my soul,
It keeps a man warm and it makes a man whole,
When the sun goes down and the day is through,
To live and walk like Jesus did, is the best a man can do."
God Fearing Man - Joel Weldon

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 7:14

So what do I see looking forward? With a mixed past of hurts, difficulties, outright screw ups along with some great triumphs, blessings and joys I see that life is long narrow road. At times, it's tough, lonely and with missteps along the way. Sometimes we get lost. On the other hand, the views are great. The few that walk with you are the most amazing people you can have around. I think my life calling is still about a Savior and investing in lives to help them find the healing and wholeness we all desire. Those like me who have experienced much failure are the ones who know what it's like. I have many relationships to try to reconcile and much forgiveness to seek. But I know what my measuring stick is and even though I'll fall short, I know that it's about keeping my heart right and continuing to heal and hopefully bring healing to others. There is no ego in this as I know that in the end Christ will get the properly deserved credit. I'm only there to experience the blessings that come along with it.
This week marks a moment of transition and in many ways things are the same. I will check a different age box when I fill out a survey but I'll also be doing a lot of the same things I've been doing for that past 50 years. People come and go through the years but many will stick around for the journey. I'll continue to need to seek forgiveness and reconciliation but I'll also hopefully be the one to help others find it along the way. Mostly, I have a Father who is showing me the way, forgiving me when I screw up and healing my heart. Because of Him it makes it all worth it.